Category: Presidential Campaign 2016

RUBIO: Well, first of all, and before we do anything, I’ve been abundantly clear on this. When I’m president of the United States, before we do anything on immigration, we are going to secure the border. And, that’s not just the physical border with Mexico, it’s Visa overstays. That’s 45 percent of the problem right there.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I can say that. If the president had to– if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. And I’m sure that, frankly, I’m– absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that– Senate is going to be able, Mitch and the entire group, is gonna be able to do something about it, in terms of delay. We could have a Diane Sykes or you could have a Bill Pryor. We have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservativism, it’s a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country.Continue reading “Transcript: GOP Presidential Debate in South Carolina (2-13-16)”→

SANDERS: Well, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you.

Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months.

And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice.

SANDERS: And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that’s an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent.

And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We’re spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans.

They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them.

I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.

MUIR: So let’s get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We’re going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, ISIS, Homeland Security. And here in New Hampshire, some of the most heated rhetoric yet over who is best suited to step in on day one, who has the experience, who has the temperament to be commander-in-chief.Continue reading “Transcript: GOP New Hampshire Primary Debate (2-6-2016)”→

Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven’t gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you’ll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this?

SANDERS: Well, I haven’t quite run for president before.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

Let’s deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there’s a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much.

Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it’s the U.K., whether it’s France, whether it’s Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can’t do that.

I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can’t stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It’s an expensive proposition.

I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street’s time to help the middle class.

COOPER: — you have had, obviously, quite a few days. It’s been quite a — quite a whirlwind for you. I understand your campaigned — the campaign says you’ve raised at least $3 million since — since Iowa.

I’m wondering out there, in New Hampshire today, what are you feeling?

What sort of momentum?

Are you feeling the Bern?

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: We’re feeling great.

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: Yes, I am, now that you ask. We’re feeling really great. I think the message that we are bringing forth is resonating with the American people. And you talked about money. One of the things that has happened in our campaign, Anderson, which has blown me away, it really has, is we have received three and a half million individual contributions. That is more than any candidate in the history of the United States up until this point.

I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I’m running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I’m running for president because I’m going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires.Continue reading “New Hampshire Presidential Democratic Debate Transcript (12-19-15)”→

America has been betrayed. We’ve been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what’s happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that’s going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they’re really going to be safe.

Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children.

The paucity of coverage prompted a blast from Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver: “The corporately-owned media may not like Bernie’s anti-establishment views but for the sake of American democracy they must allow for a fair debate in this presidential campaign. Bernie must receive the same level of coverage on the nightly news as other leading candidates.”The Sanders camp has some numbers on its side, saying ABC’s “World News Tonight” has devoted 81 minutes to Trump through the end of November, compared to 20 seconds on Sanders. He didn’t fare much better on “NBC Nightly News” (2.9 minutes) or the “CBS Evening News” (6.4 minutes).That’s a huge imbalance, given that the socialist lawmaker is drawing huge crowds and grass-roots excitement. But the media refuse to believe he has a real shot at the nomination.

As GOP presidential candidates take the debate stage Tuesday at an extravagant Las Vegas hotel, they will once again compete for voters in an increasingly unpredictable race. But they are also vying for the attention of the man who owns the building — and no candidate has worked harder than Florida’s Marco Rubio.